“Thunderbolts*” 

(Action: 2 hours, 6 minutes) 

Starring: Sebastian Stan, Florence Pugh and Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Director: Jake Schreier

Rated: PG-13 (Strong violence, language, thematic elements and suggestive drug references)

Movie Review:

“Thunderbolts*” is a gratifying movie, and it is nice to see the Marvel Cinematic Universe do something other than time-travel storylines. Directed by Jake Schreier (“Robot & Frank,” 2012), this one starts interestingly and remains so throughout.

A misfit group of anti-superheroes work together after being set up by U.S. CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Louis-Dreyfus), who is trying to rid the CIA of all the illegal activities she has commissioned to avoid impeachment. After being recruited by Congressman James Buchanan ‘Bucky’ Barnes (Stan), aka the Winter Solider, Yelena Belova (Pugh), Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour), who is known as Red Guardian, John Walker (Wyatt Russell) and Ava ‘Ghost’ Starr (Hannah John-Kamen) form a team at the correct moment to stop an internal threat.

The best of “Thunderbolts*” is its surprises while amusing audiences. It is especially interesting when Robert ‘Bob’ Reynolds, an unknown person played rewardingly by Lewis Pullman, emerges as a unique being. Bob adds an uncertainty element to the story.

This superhero action is goofy occasionally, but is a good addition to MCU. So even when the antics become too comical, the movie manages to capture something that earlier Marvel movies did. It creates interesting characters that one wants to see flourish.  

Grade: B (They bring lightning and thunder.)

 

 “Bonjour Tristesse”

(Drama: 1 hour, 50 minutes) 

Starring: Lily McInerny, Chloë Sevigny, Claes Bang, Naïlia Harzoune and Aliocha Schneider

Director: Durga Chew-Bose

Rated: R (Sexuality and teen smoking)

Movie Review:

“Bonjour Tristesse” takes place on the coast of southern France. It is a remake of the 1958 movie (Director Otto Preminger) of the same name. Both are based on the novel by Françoise Sagan. This drama is a slow-moving European film that wobbles initially, but it is worth the return if you are patient.

Cécile (McInerny) enjoys a relaxing summer with her widowed father Raymond (Bang) and his young lover Elsa (Harzoune) on the southern coast of France. Their vacation changes with the arrival of Anne (Sevigny), a cultured, successful fashion designer and an old friend of Cécile’s late mother. Anne is a principled pragmatist and stern person who becomes Raymond’s fiancée. She immediately tells Cécile, age 17, that her studies should supersede her romantic relationship with slightly older Cyril (Schneider), a law student. Although she admires Anne, Cécile wants to go back to her carefree lifestyle before Anne’s arrival and devises a plan.

Plenty of movies exist about children who hate a parent’s significant other. “Bonjour Tristesse” translates as hello sadness. It takes this to another level in a very seductive, subtle manner. Durga Chew-Bose’s directorial debut is impressive as her capable cast.

McInerny is a superb newcomer, following her turn in “Palm Trees and Power Lines” (2022). The young actress is moving in this, her second full-length feature film. Sevigny (“Boys Don’t Cry,” 2000) is remarkable. She provides a classic Hollywood appeal similar to film legend Bette Davis. 

Sevigny and McInerny provide sound performances. Their relationship must portray admiration while being adversarial simultaneously. These actors make their portrayals appear effortless. 

The cast that allows their actions and facial expressions to be as much using their voices. A certain uncomfortableness is present when watching them interact, yet this tension is intentional by writer-director Chew-Bose. She wants viewers to observe characters closely and make judgments on their demeanor and appearance more so than words. She more than achieves her goal.   

Grade: B (Bonjour good drama.)

 

 “The Surfer” 

(Drama: 1 hour, 40 minutes) 

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Finn Little and Julian McMahon

Director: Lorcan Finnegan

Rated: R (Language, suicide, some violence, drug content and sexual material.)

Movie Review:

“The Surfer” is a screenplay that allows Cage to be something he does well, being an eccentric or weirdo character. Here, he plays a seemingly normal character at first, but as the movie develops, he becomes something else. A problematic feature of “The Surfer” is it does not seem to exist in the real world for a drama.

Cage plays a surfer returning to his hometown to buy property on an Australian beach. There, he just wants to show his son (Little) a good place to surf. The locals led by Scally (McMahon) are brutal and do not like anyone on their territory, even resorting to violence when necessary. After taking his son home, the surfer comes back and hangs around. Matters deteriorate, going from bad to worse.

Cage’s character does not appear to be a middle-class man living by real-world standards. Despite the abuse and bullying and even warnings from the police, he continues to stay at a place where everything keeps getting worse. Even when a nice photographer tells him he should move on, he remains in a way that makes his character appear crazed. He is determined for sure, but he goes overboard with his actions.

Audiences see Nicolas Cage play a role that is easy for him. His character exists in a narrative that is a supposed psychological thriller about the trauma he experienced living on this beachfront property as a child. More about Cage’s character becomes evident about an hour and 10 minutes into the movie. This is also where “The Surfer” becomes something unexpected, a set of implausible circumstances. The moment explains the characters’ behavior, yet the plot becomes stranger simultaneously.

Director Lorcan Finnegan (“Vivarium,” 2019) and writer Thomas Martin, mainly a teleplay scripter, create a movie easy to watch because Cage gives it his all. However, his character’s actions feel out of touch with common-sense reality. These people mean little to Martin, too. The writer does not bother to give them names, even when people attempt to remind others of who they are.   

Grade: C (Low tide surfing.)

“Rosario”

(Horror: 1 hour, 28 minutes) 

Starring: Emeraude Toubia, David Dastmalchian and José Zúñiga   

Director: Felipe Vargas

Rated: R (Bloody violent content and language.)

Movie Review:

“Rosario” is a horror movie. It is more gory than scary. A common trend in horror movies is characters committing stupid actions. The main character’s actions in this movie become stranger as the bloated plot develops.

Rosario (Toubia) is a successful businesswoman who last saw her grandmother when she was a child. While waiting for the medical officials to arrive on a snowy night, Rosario stays in the apartment with the deceased grandmother’s body. She decides to snoop around the matriarch’s apartment and discovers her grandmother was a voodoo practitioner. Rosario soon finds a form of evil also resides in the apartment.

Plenty about this horror just does not make sense, and the more it continues, the stranger it gets. This exists mainly because of peculiar character actions. The most horrific thing about this movie is its wacky, scattered narrative.  

Grade: D+ (Rosario’s story is not a rosy one.)